URAC CLINICAL INTEGRATION ACCREDITATION

09.12.17

What Providers Can Do This National Suicide Prevention Week

Source: Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare

National Suicide Prevention Week is September 10-16, bringing awareness to the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. This week is a time for physicians, nurses, and other providers to learn more about how their healthcare organizations can help suicidal patients.

In 2013, 9.3 million adults had suicidal thoughts, 1.3 million attempted suicide, and 41,149 died. Even more worrying is that the rate of suicides has increased 24% between 1999 and 2014. And as of March 2017, Joint Commission surveyors have been putting special focus on suicide, self-harm, and ligature observations in psychiatric units and hospitals. Surveyors are documenting all observations of self-harm risks, and evaluating whether the facility has:

Identified these risks before
• Has plans to deal with these risks
• Conducted an effective environmental risk assessment process

Hospice Quality Public Reporting: Hospice Compare Now Live!

Hospice Compare – Now Live!

Source CMS

On August 16, 2017 CMS unveiled the new Hospice Compare website. The goal of Hospice Compare is to help consumers compare hospice providers on their performance and assist consumers in making decisions that are right for them. Providers can start a conversation with their patients and family members about how the new Hospice Compare website impacts them by:

Explaining that the compare website provides a snapshot of the quality of care a hospice offers;

Encouraging patients and their family members to review quality ratings; and

Helping to strengthen patients and family members’ ability to make the best decisions for their care.

Lowering the Burden of Adult Disease, One Shot at a Time

Although adults shoulder the greatest burden of illness, hospitalizations,
disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases, attention to vaccination
needs for U.S. adults has largely been overlooked.
The CDC recommends vaccinations throughout a person’s lifetime. Since
its creation in 1993, the U.S. Government’s Vaccines for Children Program
has contributed to high vaccine coverage levels by providing vaccines to
underinsured, uninsured, Medicaid-insured and Alaska Native/American Indian
children. School requirements for children’s vaccinations also significantly
contribute to high pediatric vaccination rates. The adult population lacks
the same public health infrastructure and financial support as the pediatric
population when it comes to immunizations.
This whitepaper discusses contributors to lagging U.S. adult immunizations and
opportunities for advancing vaccination efforts. Industry experts discuss key
challenges pushing adult vaccination programs to the wayside, such as data
exchange complications and absence of provider priority, and recommend six
action items healthcare systems can implement to overcome obstacles.

To read the full white paper on this important issue please click here.